The most often seen and noticeable celebration from Lionel Messi is the finger skywards.
Regardless of whether he celebrates his goal with another gesture or symbolic act, Messi tends to repeat the skyward trait as well and it’s not one he’s likely to give up any time soon.
Celia Olivera Cuccittini is the person to whom each and every one of those goals are dedicated: Messi’s grandmother, who passed away in 1998. It was she who encouraged a young Leo to play, she who took him to matches and who thus played a huge role in shaping the path of perhaps the greatest-ever footballer.
Messi spoke of the celebration at a UNICEF convention, as reported by Marca (h/t Goal) in 2010, while Cristina Cubero of Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish) reported Messi’s words on the same celebration the year previous:
I think about her a lot, I would have loved that she was here in the stadium, watching me, enjoying it. She gave us everything, myself and my cousins would fight to sleep in her house, she cared for all of us.
I can’t say something in particular, it was everything about her, her character, how she treated us, how she loved us.
I dedicate my goals and my triumphs to her, I want her to be here but she left us before she could see me succeed. I would have brought her to Barcelona.
Perhaps every Barcelona fan every football fan who has admired Messi’s footwork, spectacular play or one of his goals, should be thankful to the late Sra. Cuccittini.
